Indiana Jones in Search of Killer Whales

12062008

Posted by: Laura, 4.01.08

Meet Indiana Louis. He has just arrived in Puerto Madyrn, Argentina after an overnight bus ride from Bariloche. He is in search of killer whales which lurk off the shores of the Valdez Peninsula waiting to attack unsuspecting elephant seals and sea lions.

Indiana Louis has heard reports that Orca Whales will actually swim onto the beach to prey on these tasty looking snacks.

Meet the lovely and fashionable Marion Ravenwood. You really have to use your imagination here, because I´m not dying my hair brown. (She has decided that athletic pants and fur coats should be in fashion. She does not yet own this particular fur coat, but hopes to some day.) Since there is no public transportation to the Valdez Peninusla, she will be driving the rental car for this adventure.

Indiana Louis and the Marion, accompanied by two other travelers they met in a hostel in Puerto Madryn, climb into the car at 4:00am to drive three and a half hours to the north shore of the peninsula so they can arrive two hours before high tide when the whales are known to hunt.

As the Lovely Marion takes the wheel with no Starbucks coffee to aid her in her drive, she realizes that the rental car only has a quarter tank of gas. No worries, she pulls in to the gas station on the way out of town, only to discover that there is no such thing as a 24hr gas station in Puerto Madryn. The car takes a vote and decides to continue driving and try to refill in Pyrimides, the last town before the park entrance.

After two hours and a half hours of driving in the dark, the group reaches the town of Pyramides where the gas station opens at 7:00am. They have a half hour; so they wait and hope that the station actually opens when it says it does. After refilling, they continue on their journey. The sun begins to rise, and Indy and Marion decide that the flat, dry, dusty landscape of Peninsula Valdez looks surprisingly like Texas. With more light, Lovely Marion can drive faster, but the road is not paved and she has to watch out for the sheep and alpacas grazing by the side of the road.

When they arrive at the north shore of the peninsula, the weather is very windy, making the waves higher. The group learns that the Orca whales prefer calmer seas for hunting. Since they had gotten up before 4am and driven three and a half hours, the group decides to wait for the high tide in the afternoon.

Since they have ten hours until the next chance to spot whales, they drive an hour south to the penguin colony. Thousands of penguins sit on the beach and sun themselves. Indy is amazed at the number of penguins and immediately begins taking pictures. Marion snaps a few shots, then starts imitating the penguins as the waddle around.

After an hour of watching these cute little guys, the group heads back to the whale watching point. Where they scan the horizon of the ocean for dorsal fins. Marion discovers two baby armadillos that live in the sand dunes. Since she is used to seeing armadillos by the side of the road, she follows these two around since they have no fear of humans. Indy first spotted these cute little guys when he was getting our lunch out of the car. Two tour buses had just pulled up and started taking pictures of Indiana. Unused to being in the spotlight of the paparazzi, he was baffled by these new fans. He looked down at his feet and saw two armadillos sniffing his pants. He decided to move out of the spotlight so he didn´t appear in the tourists family foto books.

So 5:00 approaches with no sign of the whales, and the group decides to head back to town so that they don”t get charged for another day of the rental car. One of the guys who accompanied them on the trip decides that he was going to try to drive back the next day, but Indy and Marion decide to keep heading south in search of more adventures.

We’re back home in Jackson, Mississippi. The trip is over–well, let’s just say on temporary hold. We’ll continue it at some point, we still have virtually all of Asia and the Middle East left. For now we’re catching up with friends and family, and slowly finishing the last 2 months worth of blog posts. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and for a New Year’s resolution we have a suggestion: take one trip this year outside your home country. And no, a beach in Cancun doesn’t count. If you need a suggestion or some practical info, we’re always ready to help.